Chapter 201 – Nest Cavern
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The black-clothed martial artist ruefully smiled and said, “I want to, but I would have to have the strength for the job. This kind of treasure might not be protected by just two Thunder Lizards. It might even possibly be a small Thunder Lizard tribal group. If I do go, I fear I would already be dead before I even arrived.”
“Even if I arrive safely, and have the luck to not encounter any Thunder Lizards, the rare thunder-attribute treasure is not something that I can meddle with. It contains a very potent power of thunder. Let alone a valuable thunder attribute material, I can’t even pick 500 year old Thundergrass. If I accidently touch the leaves, then I would follow the same fate as my junior-apprentice brother.”
The black-clothed martial artist glanced at the Altering Muscle youth who was lying unconscious on the ground.
Lin Ming said, “Whether your guess is correct or not, the information you told me is very valuable. Speak up, what sort of reward do you want?”
The black-clothed martial artist was delighted; he had spoken up with this end goal in mind. If the other party eats the meat, it’s fine even if he was just given a little bit of soup. He hesitated and said truthfully, “I don’t know if there really is a treasure, so it’s a bit hasty to talk about rewards. It’s just…Senior; could you please save my junior-apprentice brother first? If he’s left in this state any longer, he might remain disabled for his entire life…”
The black-clothed martial artist spoke with some difficulty. Since he didn’t know how old Lin Ming was, or maybe even that Lin Ming was some old monster, he might have heard him and his junior-apprentice brother’s conversation. He could only hope that this mighty elder wasn’t someone who would keep such small things in his heart.
Sure enough, Lin Ming said, “No problem.”
Towards the trivial little guy lying on the floor, Lin Ming didn’t really bother to care about him.
He pulled out a vial of pills from his spatial ring and walked over to the twin girl’s side.
Over half of the youth’s body was charred. After he probed the youth with his soul force, Lin Ming discovered that there was still a very oppressive power of thunder that remained in his body. The reason the youth was so gravely wounded was because of the continued ravaging of this thunder.
Lin Ming grabbed onto the youth’s hand. Using his Thunder Soul, he was easily able to drain the power of thunder out from the youth, and absorb it all into the Thunder Soul.
Then, he took out a pill from the vial in his hand and shoved it into the youth’s mouth.
Although the twin sisters didn’t know what sort of medicine Lin Ming had fed their second senior-apprentice brother, they only had to see how the pill sparked with light while emitting a rich fragrance to guess that this pill was definitely an expensive miracle medicine.
It was said that a high-level miracle medicine was commonly worth thousands of gold taels. There were even pills that could directly enhance a martial artist’s cultivation that cost tens of thousands of gold taels.
If they could obtain such a pill, then the two sisters wouldn’t have to suffer such hardship in their struggle to reach the Altering Muscle stage. Thinking of this, the two sister’s eyes heated up with a little bit of envy.
The power of thunder had already been removed by Lin Ming. Together with the quick efficacy of the pill, the unconscious youth coughed and woke up. He looked around in a daze. The heavy attack he had received caused him to forget what had happened to him.
“Good,” Lin Ming stood up and said to the black-clothed martial artist, “Let’s go.”
“Mm. Thank you Senior.” The black-clothed martial artist wanted to leave the twin sisters behind to look after Second Junior-apprentice Brother, but, he was worried about letting them stay here by themselves, so he let them all to go together.
The black-clothed martial artist had done a great deal of research into tracking Thunder Lizards. He was able to follow their tracks and traces of activity to retrace their steps. Even if it was hard stone ground where the footsteps were scattered, he was still able to rely on smell and other clues to accurately continue.
Finally, he brought Lin Ming to the lair of the two Thunder Lizards.
“It’s there, behind that big stone.”
The black-clothed martial artist pointed to an extremely secluded and well-hidden cavern not too far away. The cavern was completely composed of magnetic ore, and it was pitch dark inside. It looked just like the mouth of a giant vicious beast.
Lin Ming investigated with his soul force and found that there was a very vibrant power of thunder that undulated from inside the cavern. It was right to come along.
He would also have to thank the black-clothed martial artist, otherwise he wouldn’t have found this place.
Lin Ming said, “It’s fine if you wait outside. I’ll go in.”
Once the big stone was removed, the cavern entrance was just a bit wider than ten feet; it was just enough for a Thunder Lizard to pass through. It seems that this stone was moved by the Thunder Lizard in order to hide the entrance to the cavern. It was just like a gate, every time someone went in or out they had to move the gate.
Lin Ming spread out his soul force and cautiously walked into the cavern. The atmosphere inside was dark and damp, but it didn’t affect Lin Ming’s perception.
He walked a few dozen feet in, when he suddenly saw a light in front of him. The inside of the cavern was actually a very large space. There were small little inlets flowing through the ground, and the sound of water dripping onto the ground clearly reverberated through the empty silence of the cavern.
‘The scenery here isn’t too bad,’ Lin Ming thought while maintaining a high degree of vigilance.
At this moment, he suddenly felt his heart go cold. A dark murderous intent had lock onto him, and a feeling of imminent danger rose from his heart. In the next second, a red light flashed and a thunder ball struck Lin Ming’s body!
‘Thunder Lizard.’
Lin Ming instantly took out the Heavy Profound Soft Spear. This Thunder Lizard was even stronger than the last two he had encountered, and the influx of red lightning that penetrated his body was much more oppressive. Even though Lin Ming had a Thunder Soul, he wasn’t able to immediately quench it.
At this moment, the Thunder Lizard that had been hiding in the shadows roared again. Red balls of thunder shot out one after another and seven or eight of them bombarded Lin Ming like a fierce storm.
Kacha! Kacha! Kacha!
The rocks around Lin Ming were split apart by the force of this attack. Lin Ming stood in the center of this thunder barrage, accepting every single strand of thunder. An intense and painful tingling sensation flooded into him. At first, Lin Ming was extremely uncomfortable, but as the vast power of thunder was gradually being absorbed by him, Lin Ming felt a faint hint of excitement.
‘Good heavens, this peak Pulse Condensation Period Thunder Lizard is no weaker than Chi Guda!’ Recognizing the strength of this Thunder Lizard, Lin Ming was thrilled. Without a doubt, the only reason that this lizard was able to evolve had to be because of some rare thunder-attribute treasure.
The Thunder Lizard found that the usually unstoppable power of its thunder barrage was having no effect whatsoever on Lin Ming. It snarled and dashed towards Lin Ming, wanting to slam him against the stone wall and squash him into a meat patty.
Lin Ming gave a loud shot. He stepped back with his left foot, pressing it against the rock. He lifted both his arms up and true essence erupted from his body. The Heavy Profound Soft Spear was like a mountain that fell from the sky!
Bang!
Lin Ming’s spear struck the top of the Thunder Lizards back. At the same time, his body took advantage of the inertia and sprang upwards. Right after, the Thunder Lizard collided against the rock wall, and the entire cavern shook like an earthquake had occurred as massive stones started cascading down.
The black-clothed martial artist and the twin sisters had been waiting outside the cave when they suddenly heard a raging roar and the sound of an intense impact ringing from inside. They immediately blanched.
The two sisters even considered leaving first. If that senior inside had an accident and the vicious beast ran out, then they would die with him.
“Senior-apprentice Brother, we aren’t….”
“It’s alright.” The black-clothed martial artist waved his hand in dismissal. Listening to the roar, he was able to judge the strength of the Thunder Lizard inside. It shouldn’t be a match for Lin Ming.
He thought that the male and female Thunder Lizard from before were spouses, but it seemed that they were actually mother and child. Currently inside the cavern was actually the fiercest grown-up male lizard!
Whiz!
The Thunder Lizard struck out with its tail. Lin Ming roared and Flow like Silk burst out. Without hesitation he lifted the spear and smashed down onto the tail.
Kacha!
There was the sound of stone cracking. Lin Ming’s Heavy Profound Soft Spear had bent into a crescent moon!
Even though the Heavy Profound Soft Spear was very elastic, it still couldn’t resist such a strong shock. Normal martial artists would already have their hands paralyzed and even broken their arms from such an impact.
However, after Lin Ming entered the Sorcerer Pagoda, his body’s physical strength had become fearsome. He was able to resist this impact, and instead, it was the Thunder Lizard’s spine that was injured by Flow like Silk.
“Die!”
Lin Ming didn’t waste any more time. He directly opened the Heretical God Force!
Thunderfire Annihilation!
In order to deal with a peak Pulse Condensation Period master, Lin Ming could only use his strongest move. At worst, he would just return to the cavern and wait until he was restored to peak condition before he exited again.
The power of thunder and fire intertwined together. The dark cave instantly bloomed with a dazzling brilliance, as if a sun had begun to rise from inside the cave!
The vivid blaze of light illuminated out from the cavern; even the black-clothed martial artist and the two twins couldn’t help but close their eyes. Following closely was an ear-shattering explosion; it was at least 10 times louder than the Thunder Lizard’s roar!
A visible shockwave rushed out from the dark cavern. The 10,000 jin large stone that had been used to block the cavern entrance was sent flying like a lightweight ball that had been kicked; it instantly flew across the air.
The entire cave trembled. Even the rocky ground underneath shook as a violent tremor passed through the entire cavern and countless stones fell from the ceiling. At that moment, the two twin girls suspected that the cavern was about to collapse.
……..
In the cave, waves of blood had already stained the ground crimson. Lin Ming was propping himself up with the Heavy Profound Soft Spear, panting for breath as he stared at the huge corpse of the Thunder Lizard.
Although Lin Ming’s strength had greatly increased after entering the Sorcerer Pagoda, the amount of true essence that Thunderfire Annihilation used had increased correspondingly.
In just one move, almost 40% of Lin Ming’s vast true essence reserves had been consumed. The cost was considerable.
Lin Ming crammed some pills into his mouth and pulled out a True Essence Stone as he continuously absorbed the true essence within. After he recovered a bit, Lin Ming stood up and continued to walk deeper into the cavern. He didn’t even bother taking the time to cut out the Thunder Pearl from the dead Thunder Lizard.
Lin Ming had already probed further into the cavern with his soul force, and didn’t sense any other enemies or threats within. At the end of the cave, he found a red bamboo rooted in a hard magnetic ore surface, stubbornly growing.
Red arcs of lightning twined around the bamboo branch as it crackled. The bamboo leaves were just like sharp swords.
A incomparably formidable power of thunder was steadily streaming out from this bamboo. Without a doubt, this bamboo was the reason for the cave’s rich power of thunder.
This bamboo was the thunder-attribute treasure that the black-clothed martial artist had mentioned.